Addressing ethical quandaries in practitioner research: a philosophical and exploratory study of responsible improvisation through hermeneutical conversation

Journal article

In education and elsewhere, practitioner researchers sometimes experience ethical bewilderment when established university-based codes prove inadequate. We delineate this philosophically as a quandary, rather than a dilemma, necessitating responsible improvisation, which may be supported through hermeneutical conversation. We describe an exploratory study with eight participants. Analysis of pictorial designs, texts and interviews showed how they experienced quandaries (competing goods at stake, imagined negative consequences, an ongoing ethical impasse) and how they addressed them through hermeneutical conversation (the moral salience of the particular, the art of ethical improvisation). The implications for research in teacher education and research ethics guidance are considered.

Authors: Fancourt, N; Foreman-Peck, L; Oancea, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Journal: Teaching and Teacher Education
• Volume: 116
• Article number: 103760
• Publication date: 2022-05-23
• Acceptance date: 2022-04-28
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2022.103760
• ISSN: 0742-051X
• Language: English
• Keywords: hermeneutics; improvisation; research ethics; FFR; practitioner research; quandaries; dilemmas